Chico State may make "super seniors" pay extra fee

CHICO -- Students who earn many more units than they need to graduate may be charged an extra fee at Chico State University and other California State University campuses.

This fee and two others have been proposed to try to discourage students from taking classes they don't need, taking very large course loads and repeating classes.

"We want students to graduate in a timely fashion, and we want a scarce resource — classes — to be as broadly and fairly available to as many students as possible," Chico State President Paul Zingg wrote in an email to the Enterprise-Record on Wednesday.

So-called "super seniors" are students who accumulate 150 semester units or more without graduating, said Mike Uhlenkamp, a CSU spokesman. In most majors, a student needs 120 units to graduate.

There are several reasons students become super seniors, he said. Some begin studying with one goal in mind and later change majors. Some do a lot of exploring in different subject areas.

And some may put off graduating because they enjoy the life of a student.

Next week, the CSU board of trustees will consider levying a fee to encourage students to graduate "on time," Uhlenkamp said.

Under the proposal, next year a student with 160 units would pay $372 for every unit beyond 160. So, a student with 160 units who took a three-unit class would pay $1,116 in addition to regular tuition.

After next year, super seniors would have to pay the fee for any units they took beyond 150.

Not only do "super seniors" not graduate on time, but they also contribute to filling up classes that other students need to take, Uhlenkamp said. By discouraging students from becoming super seniors, the CSU would free up space in classes.

The trustees will also consider requiring students to pay extra fees if they repeat courses or if they take course loads of more than 18 units, he said.

Students who take heavy loads would pay an extra $180 for their 18th unit and for each unit in excess of 18.

Students would pay $91 for every semester unit they repeated. Students can't repeat courses if they get grades of A, B or C.

The CSU had a conference call Thursday morning to inform journalists about the fee proposal.

Describing the need for the three fees, Eric Forbes, a CSU assistant vice chancellor, said each year the CSU can't admit 20,000 to 30,000 eligible students because there is no room for them in classes.

That's partly because some students take many more courses than they need, repeat classes or take very big course loads.

Robert Turnage, another assistant vice chancellor, said about 9,000 super seniors attend the CSU. Every year, about 40,000 students repeat courses. And each term about 22,000 students take 18 units or more.

About 425,000 students are enrolled at the CSU's 23 campuses.

Ephraim Smith, CSU executive vice chancellor, said if the initiative is adopted, an "exceptions committee" would be formed to deal with requests from students who felt there was good reason to waive extra fees they were being charged.